One Step Forward
by foscari
Summary: Yue takes the first step. One shot. [Revised]


**Title:**One Step Forward  
**Rating:** PG  
**Warnings:** Unbeta-ed, no spoilers, TWT  
**Genre:** General, mild humour  
**Word Count:** 2266  
**Main Character(s):** Sakura, Yue, Kero,Tomoyo, Touya, Yukito and a brat named Hades  
**Ship(s):**Yue/Sakura  
**Summary:** Yue takes the first step. Oneshot.  
**Disclaimer:** Cardcaptor Sakura is copyright to CLAMP. Hades is my own.  
**Author's Notes:** Okay, long Author's Notes here, so bear with me.  
This oneshot was written back in April 2005. A friend of mine posted images of Yue and CCS on the forum I go to and I was hooked on Yue. :laughs: I never did get to watch the series itself; my details and information on the characters and cards were all sourced from various CCS fansites. I used the details from the original Japanese series and not from the butchered US-version.I finally watched the two CCS movies in June when my friend bought and send them to me for my birthday. Needless to say, I fell in love with it. The animation quality was superb and crisp, wonderfully drawn (it is CLAMP).  
I finally found the time to re-read this (and I cringed at the terrible grammar and spelling mistakes I made). I've revised and edited the entire piece, adding new parts and dialogue in, changed some parts around and made it less disjointed and choppy.  
Names are following the Japanese naming style; surname first, given name last. Eg. _Kinamoto Sakura_ and not the Western style of Sakura Kinamoto.  
Timeline is in the near future; Sakura is fifteen years old. Yue and Yukito are separate beings for the purpose of the story.  
**Dedication:** Kagome Taisho (Manjuu) for getting me into CCS and for being the inspiration of this story.

Kinamoto Sakura surveyed the aftermath of the battle before her. Trees had been uprooted from the earth; laying with their roots in the air and clumps of dirt still clinging on. Grass had been ripped from the ground, leaving bare patches of brown earth here and there; some were blackened and burned. There were scorched marks on the ground, telltale signs of fire being used during the fight; some were still wisping tendrils of smoke in the air. A nearby thicket had been completely destroyed, despite her valiant attempts to prevent any more damage to the landscape. What remained was a blackened, bare land and ashes.

She let out a breath as she sat heavily on the ground; the adrenalin which had fuelled her in the earlier battle faded, leaving her limbs feeling like jelly. Pounding footsteps made her lift her head up to see her best friend, Daidouji Tomoyo, dashing up to her, the camcorder still in her hand. When Tomoyo got close to her, Sakura realized her friend smelled like burnt wood and ashes.

"Sakura-chan, that was simply amazing!" Tomoyo exclaimed, happily, waving her camcorder which came out unscathed. "One minute, he was going to beat you and the next, you had defeated him! And I caught it all on my trusty little camcorder." She petted the object lovingly, eyes sparkling.

Sakura let out a, "Hoe!" at Tomoyo's antics, though she was smiling.

The 'him' that Tomoyo was talking about, was laying several feet away, looking a little crispy around the corners. He was bound up by Woody but was otherwise fine and currently out cold.

"Yeah, kid. You did great! As expected of the Cardcaptor Mistress!" Keroberos flitted over in his now harmless, smaller false form. He crossed his arms across his chest. "I would give you a thumbs up –– if I had thumbs." 1

"I couldn't have done it with you and Yue-san," said Sakura.

"No, you're the one who defeated him. We merely assisted you," said Yue, arriving at her side. He leaned down, offering his hand to her. There was something like pride in those grey eyes of his.

Sakura blinked up at him, then flushed faintly and smiled at him, before grasping his hand and letting him pull her up. Her knees wobble a little, making her look like an unsteady colt that was just learning to stand. The moon guardian slip an arm around her waist to keep her from falling, and her cheeks turned a darker shade of red.

Tomoyo gave her a knowing but rather cheeky grin at her but didn't move to tape the moment. Some things, she knew, were meant to be private and personal. Keroberos didn't seem to notice or he didn't care about it. He was already zooming over the boy. Hovering over the boy's face, he couldn't help but feel smug at his mistress's victory and that she had soundly defeated him.

"What do we do about him?" he asked, pointing one paw at the boy. "The brat will wake up anytime soon and it won't be pleasant."

"Send him on his way?" Sakura suggested, shrugging her shoulders.

"Are you mad? And have him come back to challenge you for the cards again?" cried Keroberos, incredulously. "He's not the kind of person to take a loss sitting down. You need to be tough on him. Show him who's the rightful Card Master– er, Mistress!"

"You can change him into a toad," Yue suggested dryly.

Sakura giggled at the idea but she hastily smothered it, and gave her guardian a stern look. "That's not very nice, Yue-san."

"Mistress..." he sighed. "Not every opponent you come across will be as forgiving and merciful as you. There are many more out there who will challenge your right to the cards. If you should lost to them, they will not be as merciful to you as you will be to them."

"I know, Yue-san," she said, tilting her head up at him. "I'm not the twelve year old girl I was."

"I just want you to be cautious," was his answer. She nodded in thanks, taking his words to heart. After all, he had been around much longer than her and know more.

"I say we pack him up and ship him to Timbuktu," declared Kero, landing on Tomoyo's head. He nodded at his own cleverness. "Or maybe to the South Pole. He can live with penguins."

"Sakura-chan, he's waking up!" Tomoyo called. She lifted her camcorder back up and began to film the unfolding scene.

"Ugh..." The dark-haired boy blearily opened his eyes to see three pairs of eyes and a camcorder lense looking down at him with intensity like he was some rare species exhibited at the zoo. He shifted, only to realized he was tied down. "Hey! Let me go, I tell you! Release me or else–!"

"Or else what, huh?" Kero taunted, fluttering barely an arm length's away from the face. "What are you going to do? You've lost, Hades. Just admit it!"

At that name, Yue's pale brow rose up so high, Sakura thought it might migrate to his hairline. Yue had arrived in the middle of the fight and missed out on the boy's rather glamorous name. He had came in time to shield Sakura from the bolts of lightning thrown by the boy. It was Sakura who took the boy down by using Shadow to sneak up on him and Woody to bind him.

Sakura detached herself from Yue's grasp, smoothing her skirt – a new blue-and-white outfit with a rather short pleated skirt – and knelt next to Hades. Her burnished brown hair which had been kept short during her childhood fell over her shoulders. She offered Hades nothing but a warm smile, even though he was scowling at her.

"Hades-san," she began. "you put up a good fight; but you fight for the wrong reasons. I became the Card Master because I was chosen and not because of the power of the cards in my hands. Being a Card Master means responsibilities; I use the cards wisely and not for my own desires."

Hades said nothing, merely stubbornly staring up at the late afternoon sky; it was like an artist had splashed the colours across a pale blue canvas, creating a beautiful warm crimson, pale lavender and red glow above them.

"But if you still want the cards, I will give them to you," she said. That caught his attention. He stared at her in open-mouthed surprise.

It was Keroberos who screeched in aghast and disbelief. "NANINYA? Sakura, are you off your rocker!" He flew from Tomoyo's head to hovered at her face, gesturing at her wildly.

"Sakura-chan?" Even Tomoyo made looked surprised but the grip on her trusty camcorder was still steady; she wasn't going to miss filming her Sakura-chan's most selfless moment! Not even if lightning struck the ground where she stood.

"Mistress?" Yue inquired, softly.

The Cardcaptor rose up, dusting her knees and smiled up at her quizzical guardian. "Daijoubu, Yue."

Still, Yue continued to look puzzled but he questioned her no further. She was his Mistress and the Card Master, and if she said so, then so be it. Keroberos, however, was not like him and continued to gesticulated angrily and excitedly at her, his words coming out so fast that his Osaka-ben blurred them together. It would have been a perfect moment to tease him but now wasn't the time.

"I know that you're a good person at heart, regardless of your actions," Sakura continued, her smile never once faltering. "When we fought, you never really intended to hurt me. I can see that. That is why... if you still want the cards, I'll gladly give ownership of them to you." She held out her staff. "Woody, release Hades-san from his binds. Return!"

Woody unwrapped itself from Hades, gave him a cheeky grin before returning back to card form. Sakura placed Woody back among the other cards and held the stack out silently to Hades. There was no mockery on her face or pity, only sincerity and trust.

Hades wanted to snatch the stack out of her hands but there was the part of him that refused the cards. He might have wanted them for his own selfish reasons but he knew when he had lost fair and square. His respect for the girl rose up a notch and he decided to do the right thing. It didn't mean he was going to appreciative of her, though.

"Keep them," he said, gruffly, getting up and dusting himself off. "You won the fight. I lost."

"That's right," Keroberos cut in, smugly. He had stopped his tirade and now hovered in front of the boy's face. "You lost, Cardcaptor-wannabe brat."

"Kero," scolded Sakura, though there was fond exasperation on her face.

"You're, ah, not bad at all, kid," said Hades, in grudging admiration. "You gave me a hard time and kept me on the defensive. Thanks for giving me such a good challenge. I haven't fight anyone with magic like that in a long time." He held out a hand.

"Arigatou, Hades-san." Sakura grinned, shaking his hand. "Maybe we'll see each other again?"

Hades let out a laugh; it was deep, warm and amused. "You can bet on it!"

"I don't get it," said Keroberos, later that evening. His face was smeared in chocolate pudding. "Why did you do that? Offer the Sakura Cards to him? He could have just taken up on your offer, you know."

"That's most probably why you're a stuffed plush with very little brain," Touya, remarked, though not unkindly. "You couldn't even figure it out." 2

Tomoyo had parted ways with them earlier, promising to come by tomorrow with a new costume for her beloved Sakura-chan and the edited video of the fight. All of them were gathered around the kitchen table and indulging in some ice cream (and pudding for Keroberos).

The small stuffed lion was not amused. "Shut up!" he said, sourly, cramming more pudding into his tiny mouth.

"What's that you said?" Touya put a hand behind one ear; he clearly enjoyed teasing the quick-tempered guardian.

"To-ya," cautioned Touya's close friend, Tsukishiro Yukito. The gentle, bespectacled boy was smiling mildly, as if used to such antics everyday.

Keroberos flicked a glob of pudding at him, landing it square on his nose. Touya stared. Then, an all-out war started between them. Globs of sticky mess splattered everywhere as the two waged war against each other, flinging as much ice cream or pudding towards the other as possible.

"Oniichan!" Sakura exclaimed, rolling her eyes. Honestly, for someone his age, her brother sometimes acted like he was still six years old. And he'd called her a kid.

While Yukito tried to stop Touya and Kero from making an even bigger mess in the kitchen, Yue came over beside Sakura, touching her arm gently. She looked up at him, feeling her face grow warm at the sight of him. There had always been that respect and quiet affection between them from the years together as Guardian and Mistress. When Sakura had reached the age of fifteen, she was able to give a precious gift to her guardian and her dear friend; a chance to become separate from each other. No longer will they need to share one body. With Eriol's help and knowledge, they performed the ceremony on one spring day when the cherry blossoms were in bloom.

The magic had worked perfectly, giving them what they wished for and it had made her joyful at the success and the happiness she saw on her brother and Yukito's face. As for Yue...

The unspoken affection between them grew, gradually. Sakura would love to take it one step further, to say the words to him and see where they'll stand but she was also wise enough to know that she needed to wait a bit more patiently. She didn't want to scare him off and she wanted him to take his time to be ready for the next step.

"Shall we go and watch the moon tonight, Mistress?" he said, quietly. She nodded.

They left the others behind with their mess. She was sure Yukito, being the ever responsible person he is, will chide Touya and Keroberos and made them clean up. For now, she was going to spend her time with her guardian.

"Keroberos couldn't understand because he didn't see the reason why," said Yue, tilting his head up to the moon. He wrapped an arm around her and in a soft rustling of wings, they landed on the roof. The sky was dotted with stars tonight, twinkling brightly down and the moon was full; a pale, yellow colour against the blue-black sky. "You showed kindness when most would not and mercy. You always see the good in others and never judged them, even if they treated you harshly."

"I know you'd understand," she murmured, pleased at his words. Indirect as they were, compliments from him were rare to come by.

They sat together, shoulder to shoulder. When Yue placed an arm around her, drawing her closer, she felt a small happiness bubbling up within her like the bubbles in a champagne glass. She gladly cuddled closer to him, taking the chance, resting her head against his shoulder. Slender fingers curled around her hand and she allowed a tiny smile to cross her face.

Yue hardly expressed himself openly and so affectionately.

He had just taken the one step forward, and she held his hand gently in hers as they watched the stars.

Owari.

**EN:**

1 "I'd give you thumbs up – if I had thumbs" is, if I'm not mistaken, from Salem from the cartoon Sabrina, the Teenage Witch.

2 From Winnie the Pooh. The Narrator usually said this line about Pooh Bear.

First Posted: 6 April 2005.

Revise & Edited: 13 September 2006.


End file.
